Would anyone consider taking over Shaw next season? I could take over one of the duds in the conference and build them up. Just curious if anyone would jump at a team that is ready to compete for a title instead of one of the doormats of the league.

I think Shaw is still a tournament team next season, may need two players to make that run in the tournament. I'd still be willing to move to a lesser team if someone wants to take on Shaw. Losing four players this season and will need to get a backup center and a backup SF (though a shooting guard is good enough to slide over now). There is a PF that should be a 5th year senior next season so it looks like you need 5 players when actually you only need 4. Respond here soon if you want to take over Shaw.

The Central appears to be up to 7 coaches - Virginia State is reserved. There are 3 openings that are worth considering (although you might be crazy not to take barretchap up on his offer):

Fayetteville St. - This school will have 6 seniors and 5 openings this season. That gives you a chance to compete immediately while building a dominant team.

Livingstone & St. Paul's both have 8 open schollies. Livingstone has the better 4 returning players, but with that many new players these teams could be turned into anything that you like. You could even cut one more player if you liked.

The story this time around is about bonus cash. The CIAA earned $82,000 or $6,833.33 per team in tournament bonus cash this season. We return all 7 coaches, but, considering the available cash I would anticipate that at least a couple more coaches will join us. As a quick glance would suggest, the prize opening is...

St. Augustine's - that will be a good bit of cash to fill just one opening, but this team will have 9 Seniors and 2 Juniors next season (although Williamson should be available to return for a 5th season should he hold his grades up). The prestige is C now, but St. Augustine's is primed for a very strong season and a big opportunity to build up thereafter.

Fayetteville St. made a good PIT run and has some workable players around which to build. Six open schollies, plus the bonus cash, will mean that this team can be built up in a hurry.

St. Paul's screams opportunity. Eight open schollies and Brownie, perhaps, needing to be shown the door - this school can be turned into whatever you like.

The CIAA is now 8 coaches strong. Join now and you'll be joining a rising power conference that placed 5 teams in the NT last season, when many teams were transitioning. The positions are challenging, but there will be bonus cash to spend. These are opportunities to prove your mettle:

Virginia State - 10 open scholarships for this school. Conant returns with 2 seasons of eligibility left and Holder returns for his final season after averaging nearly a triple double (points, rebounds & turnovers). If you're wondering: this is rock bottom. A new coach will have plenty of cash and a great opportunity to build.

Livingstone - has only 2 open schollies and recently reverted to its original triangle & press formula. With 4 Seniors and 6 Juniors, this team will be competitive even without the highest overall average.
Elizabeth City State - only has 4 open scholarships as Galgano will return for his 5th season at this triangle & zone team. The first step here is to rescind the scholarships of Broadwater, Livingston and Lockwood and accept a couple walk-ons for this upcoming season, but that should leverage the recruiting budget for the next 2 seasons while staying competitive.

St. Paul's - it isn't pretty. It's tough to tell, but there may be some hidden talent on this squad. Last season, Stansbury improved the most, followed by Aden. Reese seems to have developed well in the core categories for a C and Cooper & Walsh will return as very useful upperclassmen. However, it's tough to see how this team could be competitive playing a man-to-man style until all these players graduate.

All new coaches are welcome to join us in the effort to build the Central into the elite DII conference in Knight. All eight coaches return, so the same openings remain from last cycle. The conference played 10 NT games last season, but that was a bit of a disappointment. We'll beat that next season.

Livingstone is the most attractive option. 4 open schollies with the kicker that the team will have 6 seniors next season! Livingstone's returning players are actually pretty good -- none great -- but players that can be competitive while this team is built up. FILLED!

Elizabeth City State has some guards that will light it up. However, even with 5 open schollies, there are several players that deserve to be cut. If the roster were trimmed down a little and a couple walk-ons accepted, then this zone team could be turned around while still being competitive.

For the rest, Virginia State will be a terrific post to take over after a couple seasons (check out the boat-load of freshmen with 2 non-qualifiers on campus) -FILLED! - and St. Paul's will have to wait at least another season to be a likely turn around target.

The best open job in Knight DII has a C prestige. Nine coaches return to the Central this season and there will be tourney bonus cash to spare, but the best opening won't use any this season:

Johnson C. Smith all 12 returning players are human recruited. There will be 6 seniors & 4 juniors whom are used to playing motion & press/zone. JCS should easily make the NT this season and will have a boat-load of cash for recruiting next time around. No one looking to move up to Knight DII should fail to apply for this post.

Nevermind...well...after that...Elizabeth City State and St. Paul's each would need to be rebuilt by a new coach, but there should be plenty of bonus cash with which to do so.

I'll revive this thread. The Central has 2 opening with 10 coaches returning; 7 of whom made the NT last season. There are 2 openings:

Elizabeth City State - returns 6 human recruited Juniors for next season. The recruiting budget will be based on 4 open schollies, but the 2 SimAI recruited Sophomores can easily be cut on this triangle & zone team. There's more to work with than a first glance may tell. RESERVED.

Virginia State - This program will have 8 open schollies this season, with only 2 seniors and 2 juniors returning. Those are all human-recruited players, though. The team now runs flex & press, but it may take a masterful job of recruiting to continue running an effective press. This is a challenge, but there will be money to burn.

The Central had the best season of any DII conference. NCCU won the DII National Championship and Fayetteville St. won the DII Invitational Championship. Five teams were placed in the NT and 2 in the PIT. There are two openings at the moment:

St. Paul's - substantial improvements were made to the roster at this school by ma412 (maybe he forgot to renew), but with the untimely transfer of Nicholas Jeffries, this team will have a total of 7 open scholarships, but will return a strong frontcourt and very serviceable backcourt. There will be ample cash to continue the upswing.

Virginia St. - always in turmoil, only 1 open scholarship will be available as Glen Cooley will probably show back up for his 5th season, whether you like it or not. Addition could be made by the subtraction of a couple freshmen. There would be enough bonus cash to allow the savvy coach to fill out the roster from there and begin the turnaround of this once-proud program.

The Central had the highest RPI of any D2 conference and placed 8 teams in the NT, playing a total of 22 games. No championships this time around, but each team will have $9,167 in bonus money. Teams from the Central will be participating in the MUSDUC challenge. This is the season to take a team in the Central!

Shaw - We understand that barretchap will be taking an indefinite sabbatical from Knight D2, but we expect him back one day. He leaves Shaw running an inscrutably sound motion & zone/press system (don't ask me how he made that work so well). There will be 4 open scholarships as Myers should return for a fifth season. Do not expect this position to be available long!

St. Paul's - This team should be looked upon as an enormous opportunity to build a dynasty. 6 open scholarships should mean nearly $39,167 in recruiting cash to start building your squad. Not too shabby. The downside - you may find no way around cutting the 3 simAI recruited returning sophs. However, Williamson, Brown & Scriven are the core returning players for this motion & man team.

Virginia St. - Things look bleak in Petersburg, but, with 4 open scholarships and a rising junior super-class, this team could make a huge splash in your second season. The strategy I suggest for this flex & press team is simple: rescind the scholarship of 1 of the 7 rising juniors, then sign 4 or 5 recruits, but no sophomores. When Young graduates the following year, sign a sophomore or two that season to create a 6/0/6/0 class structure and you'll be taking every other recruiting cycle off and bathing in cash the next. It's worth a shot, no?

Complete Domination! The Central had 3 out of the 4 Final Four teams and the National Championship game was a replay of the CIAA conference championship game. Congratulations to St. Augustine's! 20 games played in the NT and a couple in the PI - nice amount of bonus cash for every team. As of now, only the same two openings, but they're worth it for the bonus cash and stellar competition:

Virginia St. - Only 3 open schollies, but 8 rising seniors (although Michael Tanner has an extra season of eligibilty, if he keeps his grades up). This is the season to take on this kind of project; run flex & press for the season while turning it into whatever you want for the season following. The only other player that will return in your second season would be Beamer; pretty useful guard. FILLED!

St. Paul's - 5 open schollies and 6 rising Juniors. The returning roster is a little thin, but this would be a good season to take over and start the rebuilding process. Plenty of cash to spend and you can probably start the freshmen that are brought in. Maybe a defense change is in order, but in 3 seasons this team could be in the NT and competing in the Final Four in 4.

Johnson C. Smith - [mrbinson may come back and nab this team, but I'll post it anyway] - A motion & press team with 3 open scholarships and 5 returning seniors. Skeete just finished a redshirt season and Pilkington just ran through his ineligible year - that is some good young talent. The team pretty desperately needs a PG that can start and a young freshman Center, but it is loaded with talent everywhere else.

Livingstone - [tk may also come back for this team] - a motion & man team with 3 open schollies. There's some nice talent on the roster, but lacks a PG to run the offense next season and looks better suited to run a Zone, than man defense.